System and method for dynamic power control for energy efficient physical layer communication devices

ABSTRACT

A system and method for dynamic power control for energy efficient physical layer communication devices. Energy-efficiency features are continually being developed to conserve energy in links between such energy-efficient devices. These energy-efficient devices interoperate with many legacy devices that have already been deployed. In these links, energy savings can be produced by having a local receiver enter an energy saving state based upon the receipt of standard IDLE signals.

This application claims priority to provisional application No.61/230,136, filed Jul. 31, 2009, which is incorporated by referenceherein, in its entirety, for all purposes.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to energy efficient Ethernetnetworks and, more particularly, to a system and method for dynamicpower control for energy efficient physical layer communication devices.

INTRODUCTION

Energy costs continue to escalate in a trend that has accelerated inrecent years. Such being the case, various industries have becomeincreasingly sensitive to the impact of those rising costs. One areathat has drawn increasing scrutiny is the IT infrastructure. Manycompanies are now looking at their IT systems' power usage to determinewhether the energy costs can be reduced. For this reason, an industryfocus on energy efficient networks has arisen to address the risingcosts of IT equipment usage as a whole (i.e., PCs, displays, printers,servers, network equipment, etc.).

In designing an energy efficient solution, one of the considerations isthe traffic profile on the network link. For example, many network linksare typically in an idle state between sporadic bursts of data, while inother network links, there can be regular or intermittent low-bandwidthtraffic, with bursts of high-bandwidth traffic. An additionalconsideration for an energy efficient solution is the extent to whichthe traffic is sensitive to buffering and latency. For example, sometraffic patterns (e.g., HPC cluster or high-end 24-hr data center) arevery sensitive to latency such that buffering would be problematic.

For these and other reasons, applying energy efficient concepts todifferent traffic profiles would lead to different solutions. Thesevaried solutions can therefore seek to adapt the link, link rate, andlayers above the link to an optimal solution based on various energycosts and impact on traffic, which itself is dependent on theapplication. In providing an energy-efficient solution that properlyaddresses the various competing considerations, what is needed is asystem and method for dynamic power control for energy efficientphysical layer communication devices.

SUMMARY

A system and/or method for dynamic power control for energy efficientphysical layer communication devices, substantially as shown in and/ordescribed in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forthmore completely in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not thereforeto be considered limiting of its scope, the invention will be describedand explained with additional specificity and detail through the use ofthe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an Ethernet link between link partners in an energyefficient Ethernet network.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an Ethernet link having one legacyphysical layer communication device.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a transition between data and idlemodes on an Ethernet link.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a physical layer communication devicehaving a dynamic power control mechanism.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a process of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) networks attempt to save power when thetraffic utilization of the network is not at its maximum capacity. Thisserves to minimize the performance impact while maximizing energysavings. At a broad level, the EEE control policy for a particular linkin the network determines when to enter an energy saving state, whatenergy saving state (i.e., level of energy savings) to enter, how longto remain in that energy saving state, what energy saving state totransition to out of the previous energy saving state, etc. EEE controlpolicies can base these decisions on a combination of static settingsestablished by an IT manager and the properties of the traffic on thelink itself.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example link to which an EEE control policy can beapplied. As illustrated, the link supports communication between a firstlink partner 110 and a second link partner 120. In various embodiments,link partners 110 and 120 can represent a switch, router, endpoint(e.g., server, client, VOIP phone, wireless access point, etc.), or thelike. As would be appreciated, the link can operate at standard ornon-standard (e.g., 2.5G, 5G, 10G, etc.) link rates, as well as futurelink rates (e.g., 40G, 100G, etc.). The link can also be supported byvarious port types (e.g., backplane, twisted pair, optical, etc.) and invarious applications (e.g., Broadreach Ethernet, EPON, etc.).

As illustrated, link partner 110 includes physical layer device (PHY)112, media access control (MAC) 114, and host 116, while link partner120 includes PHY 122, MAC 124, and host 126.

In general, hosts 116 and 126 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,and/or code that may enable operability and/or functionality of the fivehighest functional layers for data packets that are to be transmittedover the link. Since each layer in the OSI model provides a service tothe immediately higher interfacing layer, MACs 114 and 124 may providethe necessary services to hosts 116 and 126 to ensure that packets aresuitably formatted and communicated to PHYs 112 and 122. MACs 114 and124 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and/or code that may enablehandling of data link layer (Layer 2) operability and/or functionality.MACs 114 and 124 can be configured to implement Ethernet protocols, suchas those based on the IEEE 802.3 standard, for example. PHYs 112 and 122can be configured to handle physical layer requirements, which include,but are not limited to, packetization, data transfer andserialization/deserialization (SERDES).

In general, controlling the data rate of the link may enable linkpartners 110 and 120 to communicate in a more energy-efficient manner.More specifically, a reduction in link rate to a sub-rate of the mainrate enables a reduction in power, thereby leading to energy savings. Inone example, this sub-rate can be a zero rate, which produces maximumpower savings.

One example of subrating is through the use of a subset PHY technique.In this subset PHY technique, a low link utilization period can beaccommodated by transitioning the PHY to a lower link rate that isenabled by a subset of the parent PHY. In one embodiment, the subset PHYtechnique is enabled by turning off portions of the parent PHY to enableoperation at a lower or subset rate. For example, a subset 1G PHY can becreated from a parent 10G PHY by a process that turns off three of thefour channels. In another embodiment, the subset PHY technique isenabled by slowing down the clock rate of a parent PHY. For example, aparent PHY having an enhanced core that can be slowed down and sped upby a frequency multiple can be slowed down by a factor of 10 during lowlink utilization, then sped up by a factor of 10 when a burst of data isreceived. In this example of a factor of 10, a 10G enhanced core can betransitioned down to a 1G link rate when idle, and sped back up to a 10Glink rate when data is to be transmitted.

Another example of subrating is through the use of a low power idle(LPI) technique. In general, LPI relies on turning the active channelsilent when there is nothing to transmit. Energy is thereby saved whenthe link is off. Refresh signals can be sent periodically to enable wakeup from the sleep mode. In one embodiment, a sync signal can be used onthe interfaces (i.e., medium dependent interface (MDI) and MAC/PHYinterface) to allow for a quick wake up from the sleep mode and maintainfrequency lock. For example, on the MDI interface for a 10GBASE-Tsignal, a simple PAM2 pseudorandom bit sequence could be used on pair Aduring LPI mode. This would not significantly increase the power that isconsumed.

In general, both the subset and LPI techniques involve turning off orotherwise modifying portions of the PHY during a period of low linkutilization. As in the PHY, power savings in the higher layers (e.g.,MAC) can also be achieved by using various forms of subrating as well.

As FIG. 1 further illustrates, link partners 110 and 120 also includeEEE control policy entities 118 and 128, respectively. In general, EEEcontrol policy entities 118 and 128 can be designed to determine when toenter an energy saving state, what energy saving state (i.e., level ofenergy savings) to enter, how long to remain in that energy savingstate, what energy saving state to transition to out of the previousenergy saving state, etc.

EEE control policy entities 118 and 128 can comprise suitable logic,circuitry, and/or code that may be enabled to establish and/or implementan EEE control policy for the network in which the link resides. Invarious embodiments, EEE control policy entities 118 and 128 can be alogical and/or functional block which may, for example, be implementedin one or more layers, including portions of the PHY or enhanced PHY,MAC, switch, controller, or other subsystems in the host.

EEE control policy entities 118 and 128 can be enabled to analyzetraffic on the physical link and to analyze operations and/or processingof data in link partners 110 and 120. In this manner, EEE control policyentities 118 and 128 may exchange information from, or pertaining to,one or more layers of the OSI hierarchy in order to establish and/orimplement the EEE control policy.

EEE control policy entities 118 and 128 can be designed to cooperatewith each other in signaling their own energy saving actions as well asresponding to their link partner's energy saving actions. Incombination, the signaling by the link partners can conserve energy onboth ends of the link in a coordinated manner when the link utilizationis low. In general, EEE control policy entities 118 and 128 are designedto leverage energy saving states that have been incorporated into thedesigns of the PHY, MAC, etc.

Due to the significant energy saving benefits that can be achieved usingenergy saving states, there exists a general industry trend inincorporate various energy saving features into various systemcomponents (e.g., PHY, MAC, etc.). Where the energy saving enablingfeatures (e.g., energy saving states, signaling, etc.) are standardizedor commonly supported, there can be a cooperation between devicesmanufactured by different vendors in producing energy savings on aparticular link. Where the energy saving enabling features are notstandardized or commonly supported between a pair of devices, however,energy savings on a link cannot be leveraged even if one of the linkpartners could otherwise includes support for some form of energysavings.

FIG. 2 illustrates such an example. As illustrated, link partner 220supports some form of energy savings, while link partner 210 does not.Thus, notwithstanding the capabilities of link partner 220, the energysavings on the link are limited.

One common example of such a scenario is where a first link partnerincludes energy saving features and a second link partner is a legacydevice that does not include energy saving features. This scenario iscommon due to the large installed base of legacy devices.Notwithstanding the growing trend of incorporating energy savingfeatures into new generations of devices, the level of penetration ofthat new generation of devices will proceed slowly in accordance withthe replacement rates of existing legacy devices.

Recognizing that link partners may not commonly support a set of energysaving features, it is a feature of the present invention that energysavings can be produced asymmetrically across the link. Morespecifically, the principles of the present invention provide an energyefficiency control mechanism for a PHY that interoperates with systemsthat may not have been designed and manufactured for energy efficiency,or may not have been designed and manufactured for energy efficiency incooperation with that PHY.

The principles of the present invention enable PHYs to leverageavailable information for the established link to provide a robustdynamic power down control mechanism for energy efficiency during theabsence of data, video and/or audio traffic. In current PHYimplementations, the power dissipation is independent of the linkutilization. This results because the transmission of IDLE signals whenno traffic is being transmitted consumes a significant amount of power.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the transmission of IDLE signals on alink. In general, data transmitted and/or received by a PHY can beformatted in accordance with the well-known OSI protocol standard. Thedata transmitted can comprise frames of Ethernet media independentinterface (MII) data (e.g., data modes 320, 340), which may be delimitedby start of stream and end of stream delimiters, for example. The datatransmitted can include IDLE signals (e.g., idle modes 310, 330) thatmay be communicated between frames of data. Conventionally, IDLE signalsare used to keep link partners synchronized between frames of actualdata. IEEE standard IDLE signals are formatted in a manner very similarto real data. Thus, as noted, the transmission of IDLE signals wouldstill consume a significant amount of power.

In the present invention, it is recognized that asymmetric energysavings can be achieved on a link based on an analysis of link-relatedparameters. For example, the local receiver can be powered down wheneverthe remote PHY is transmitting idle sequences (i.e., no data contentbeing transmitted). The receiver can then be powered up again whennon-idle signals are detected from the remote PHY. With this energyefficiency framework, the power dissipation of the local PHY would bereduced in proportion to the link utilization. Accordingly, a PHYconnected to a link with low average utilization, which is typical inmany Ethernet links, would have lower average power dissipation.Significantly, these energy savings would be achieved when the PHY waspaired with a legacy PHY device that was not designed for energyefficiency.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of such an energy efficiency mechanismthat can be incorporated in the baseband portion of a transceiver. Asillustrated, transceiver 400 includes receiver front end and buffering410 that feeds an equalization stage, which includes a feed forwardequalizer (FFE) and a decision feedback equalizer (DFE). The feedbackand results of the equalization stage are also fed back to timingrecovery 420, which extracts a timing signal from the embedded clock inthe received signal. As would be appreciated, the principles of thepresent invention are not limited to the particular form of the exampletransceiver illustrated in FIG. 4.

As further illustrated, transceiver 400 also includes idle sequencemonitor 430. Idle sequence monitor 430 is designed to monitor thereceived signals to identify the receipt of IDLE signals that aretransmitted by the remote device. As noted, when the remote device doesnot have any data to transmit, the remote device will transmit IDLEsignals on the link. These IDLE signals can be standard IDLE signals andneed not be specialized idle signals (e.g., low-power idle signals).

These standard IDLE signals can be monitored using a programmablethreshold to determine when an idle mode should be signaled. Thesignaling of such an idle mode can then be used to determine when thelocal receiver should enter a sleep mode for a programmable time period.

In one embodiment, the programmable thresholds can be determined byusing fuzzy logic for self-adaptation to thereby increase the energyefficiency. This adaptation mechanism can be governed by PHY controlpolicy logic 450, which can utilize preliminary networks statistics.These network statistics can be continually updated to reflect changesin link utilization. Further, sleep statistics can be tracked to providean indication of the success of the sleep mode. For example, sleepstatistics such as the number of energy saving events, the length ofeach energy saving event, the total time in an energy saving stateduring a measurable time period, etc. can be tracked. These sleepstatistics can also be used to increase or decrease the programmablethresholds and time periods to improve energy efficiency. In furtherexamples, the network statistics can include statistics regarding timeof day usage (e.g., overnight usage versus working-day usage), usagestatistics for a particular device, user, etc., statistics regardingparticular types of communication, statistics regarding a likelihood ofwhen a channel is to be up (e.g., refresh cycle), etc. In general, anyexplicit identification or a statistic that indicates relative activityon the link can be used by the control policy.

Returning to FIG. 4, transceiver 400 also includes wake-up control 440.In general, wake-up control 440 is designed to determine when the localreceiver goes to sleep (i.e., enters an energy saving state),periodically refreshes (i.e., updates the channel parameters), and/orwakes up from the energy saving state. These decisions by wake-upcontrol 440 are provided to PHY control policy logic 450, whichimplements the state control in the local receiver.

It is a feature of the present invention that transceiver 400 canproduce energy savings in the local receiver without compromising theestablished link with the remote link partner. As would be appreciated,maintaining the established link may require continuous signaling.Accordingly, in one embodiment, the local transmitter is maintained inan operational state to ensure that the remote link partner's localreceiver status is maintained in a functional state.

When a non-IDLE or data traffic is detected, wake-up control 440 canthen transition the local receiver from the energy saving state to anactive state. As would be appreciated, the particular analog and digitalcircuitry within the local receiver path (RX channel) that is powereddown during an energy saving state would be implementation dependent.The implementation dependent energy saving states would thereforerequire different amounts of time to transition from the energy savingstate to the active state. These variations can be accommodated bydifferent amounts of buffering in the receiver path to ensure thattraffic is not lost and that latency requirements are accommodated.Buffering may not be needed in all cases.

In the example of a four-pair full duplex Ethernet transceiver, anenergy saving state can be defined where all four receiver channels arepowered down. Alternatively, an energy saving state can be defined whereone local receiver channel remains powered and the three other localreceiver channels are powered down. This energy saving state canrepresent an example of a subset PHY mode, which can improve thetracking capability of the channel parameters. An advantage of thisenergy saving state is that one channel can be used to detect thenon-IDLE. Thus, the PHY can be awoken quicker due to the trackingcapability of the channel parameters, and the size of the requiredbuffering in the receiver path can be reduced.

To further illustrate the process of the present invention, reference isnow made to the flowchart of FIG. 5. As illustrated, the process beginsat step 502 where the transceiver monitors signals received from aremote link partner for an IDLE sequence. In general, the receipt ofIDLE signals provide an indication that the remote link partner hastransitioned to an idle mode. Where the remote link partner is a legacydevice that is not configured for energy efficiency, then the IDLEsequence can be a standard Ethernet IDLE signal that is transmittedbetween Ethernet frames. These IDLE signals are not designed to produceenergy efficiency in the remote link partner.

Their receipt at the local receiver, on the other hand, can be leveragedto produce energy savings. Here, a decision is made at step 504 whetherto have the local receiver enter into an energy saving state. As wouldbe appreciated, IDLE signals can be transmitted between Ethernet frames.If the traffic is truly bursty, then the time in the idle mode can besubstantial and large energy savings are possible. If the traffic isnot-bursty, however, then the entry by the local receiver into an energysaving state can be ineffective from an energy efficiency standpoint.

To promote energy efficiency, this decision to enter an energy savingstate can be based on thresholds (e.g., time in idle mode) that can bedetermined by an analysis of network and/or sleep statistics by an EEEcontrol policy that implements fuzzy logic. In general, the thresholdscan be adapted based on defined statistics to ensure that an entry intoan energy saving state is more likely to be effective in producingenergy savings at the local receiver.

If it is determined at step 504 that the energy saving state should notbe entered, then the receiver would continue to monitor the receipt ofIDLE signals at step 502. If, on the other hand, it is determined atstep 504 that the energy saving state should be entered, then theprocess continues to step 506 where a PHY control policy logic wouldpower down analog and/or digital circuitry in the local receiver paththat is unneeded in the processing of IDLE signals. While analog and/ordigital circuitry in the local receiver path is powered down, the localtransmitter is maintained in an operational state that prevents anycompromise of the link established with the remote link partner. Fromthe energy saving state, the local receiver can be awakened at step 508to do a periodic refresh or to process a non-idle signal.

As has been described, the principles of the preset invention enablepower savings in many links that include a link partner that is notconfigured for energy efficiency. This mechanism thereby improves energyefficiency across the network without being dependent on a fullmigration to fully-compatible energy-efficient devices.

As would be appreciated, the principles of the present invention areapplicable to a wide variety of data communications systems' standardssuch as IEEE 802.3. The principles of the present invention can also beapplied to a variety of other wireline and wireless applications.

In general, the EEE control policy can be implemented across variouscontrol layers. The EEE control policy need not be hardcoded, but can beadaptive and response to some form of inter-layer control. As would beappreciated, the principles of the present invention can also be appliedto full duplex scenarios as well.

These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art by a review of the preceding detaileddescription. Although a number of salient features of the presentinvention have been described above, the invention is capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways thatwould be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading thedisclosed invention, therefore the above description should not beconsidered to be exclusive of these other embodiments. Also, it is to beunderstood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are forthe purposes of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

1. A physical layer communication device, comprising: a receiver;control policy logic that powers down at least part of said receiver inresponse to a control signal; and a monitoring module that detects apresence of a sequence of a plurality of Ethernet idle signals that arereceived from a remote device at said receiver, wherein said sequence ofsaid plurality of Ethernet idle signals are transmitted by said remotedevice when said remote device is in an active communication state fordata communication, said Ethernet idle signals being designed to enablesaid receiver to maintain clock synchronization during said activecommunication state and being transmitted by said remote device duringsaid active communication state whenever said remote device has no dataor control information to transmit to the physical layer communicationdevice, wherein said detected presence of said sequence of saidplurality of Ethernet idle signals are monitored relative to aprogrammable threshold to generate said control signal.
 2. The physicallayer communication device of claim 1, wherein said control policy logicpowers down all receiver channels.
 3. The physical layer communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein said control policy logic powers down lessthan all receiver channels.
 4. The physical layer communication deviceof claim 1, further comprising a transmitter that remains on when saidat least part of said receiver is powered down.
 5. The physical layercommunication device of claim 1, wherein said control policy logicpowers up said at least part of said receiver when said monitoringmodule detects a presence of a non-idle signal.
 6. The physical layercommunication device of claim 1, wherein said programmable threshold isdetermined using fuzzy logic.
 7. A method performed by a physical layercommunication device, comprising: receiving a transmission of data froma link partner while said link partner and the physical layercommunication device are in an active communication state, said activecommunication state supporting data transmission; monitoring, by amonitoring module in the physical layer communication device, a sequenceof a plurality of idle signals received at a receiver of the physicallayer communication device relative to a programmable threshold, saididle signals being transmitted by said link partner during said activecommunication state whenever said remote device has no data or controlinformation to transmit to the physical layer communication device;powering down at least part of said receiver based on a control signalproduced by said monitoring; and maintaining a transmitter of thephysical layer communication device in a fully powered state thatsupports data transmission while said at least part of said receiver ispowered down.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising generatingsaid control signal using an adaptive control mechanism.
 9. The methodof claim 7, further comprising powering up said at least part of saidreceiver when data or control information is received at said receiver.10. A method in a local physical layer communication device, comprising:receiving a sequence of a plurality of Ethernet idle signals from aremote physical layer communication device while said remote physicallayer communication device is in a fully powered state, said Ethernetidle signals being transmitted by said remote physical layercommunication device during said fully powered state whenever saidremote physical layer communication device has no data or controlinformation to transmit to the physical layer communication device;monitoring said received sequence of said plurality of Ethernet idlesignals relative to a programmable threshold; and powering down at leastpart of a receiver of the local physical layer communication device toconserve power based on a control signal generated using saidmonitoring.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said powering downcomprises powering down all channels of said receiver.
 12. The method ofclaim 10, wherein said powering down comprises powering down less thanall channels of said receiver.
 13. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising maintaining a transmitter of the local physical layercommunication device in a fully powered state while said at least partof said receiver is powered down.
 14. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising powering up said at least part of said receiver when data orcontrol information is received from said remote physical layercommunication device.
 15. The method of claim 10, further comprisingadapting said programmable threshold using fuzzy logic.